In 2007, most but not all of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November and each time zone switches at a different time. What may or may not complicate matters more, in the European Union, Summer Time begins and ends at 1:00 a.m. Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time). It begins the last Sunday in March and ends the last Sunday in October. In the EU, all time zones change at the same moment.

Because the United States Secretary of Energy has yet to do the study and will not report the impact of this change to Congress for some time, Corby has made a decision not to make major changes to software and firmware that may have to be un-done once the study is complete and provide only temporary "work-around's" for the few products involved.

Sometimes Software is usually the easiest to fix but the hardest to un-fix. Firmware is the Operating System embedded on the actual printed circuit board and fixing that may even require taking the entire system down and sending the equipment back to the manufacturers for an upgrade. This can be an expensive proposition especially is this Daylight Saving Time change is temporary..

Normally, unless the Corby Access Control System is programmed with Time Schedules that apply to restricting access or egress of personnel or locking or un-locking doors or portals then there should be no pressing need to worry about Daylight Saving Time and it quickly becomes a non-issue with most installations. Our recommendation is to just disable the DST function and change the System time when it is convenient for you and, if it is later rather than sooner then just make mental adjustments to the time difference when you look at the access logs.

Taking a few minutes out of the year to manually change System times may be the least expensive DST method in the long run. For example, here at Corby, our sales offices are protected with a System 10 and our main lobby door is on a Time Schedule which automatically unlocks the door each morning, Monday through Friday at 0830 hours and then re-locks it at 1700 hours. For 2007, to keep things simple, we changed the time on our System 10 sometime during the day on Friday, March 9th and moved the System Time forward one hour. We also disabled the DST function so it will not activate on April 1, 2007.

On Friday the 9th, the front door locked one hour earlier at 1600 hours instead of 1700 hours. That was not a big deal as we just put a sign on the door. On Monday morning, March 12th, the System 10 Time matched everyones wristwatch and the door unlocked at 0830 hours as scheduled. On the brighter side, Congress may just decide to scrap the whole mess early, put it back the way it was and we don't have to bother with this anymore.

As always, our Sales and Tech Staff is ready to answer all your questions if necessary. Give us a call at (610) 433-1412 or send an email to
support7 @ corby.com

After March 11:
For our Systems 2, 4, 5 and 10, if your Corby System had DST enabled and you did not disable the function it will advance your System clock one hour on Sunday, April 1st. And, as far as your Microsoft computers are concerned, if you only changed the time and did not apply the fix or select a new time zone then there is a good chance that your time reverted back to standard time. For our System 2000 you must fix the Microsoft Operating System and follow the update procedures as outlined below.

CORBY SYSTEM 2
In a multi-node system, all programming must be done from
the door Control Panel designated as "Master"

CORBY SYSTEM 10
From the operators terminal enter the programming password
Select option 1 - TIME - DATE, TIME SCHEDULES, HOLIDAY LIST
Select option 12 - ENABLE / DISABLE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME
Press the space bar until the word DISABLED appears
Press F10 to save
Press 0 Enter to return to main menu
Press 0 Enter to exit programmingTo Change Time:
From the operators terminal enter the programming password
Select option 1 - TIME - DATE, TIME SCHEDULES, HOLIDAY LIST
Select 11 - SET DATE - TIME
Press F7 - SET TIME
Enter Time in 24 hour format using 6 digits HHMMSS
Press F10 to Save
Press 0 Enter to return to main menu
Press 0 Enter to exit programming
This function also changes the computer system timeRemember that System 10 is a Distributed System. That means all data is stored on the computer and on each Door Port Module (DPM) for redundant security. The computer only polls each DPM every few seconds which means it takes time for any time change to propagate through the entire system.

CORBY SYSTEM 2000
The System 2000 obtains its time directly from the Microsoft Windows Operating System. The DST function is usually located and enabled or disabled in the Windows Control Panel reached by <Start> <Settings> <Control Panel> <Date and Time> <Time Zone> and you may have to click <Apply> when you are done and this example applies only to common Microsoft systems. For more Microsoft information click the link listed below.

We expect you to apply and fully test a working DST "fix" to your computer prior to 0200 hours, March 11, 2007. If so, then on Sunday at 0200 hours the revised " time" will start to propagate through the entire System starting at ~0201 hours and... it can take minuites or hours to fully propagate. Any active Time Schedules or Time Cells within or spanning this time propagation period will be experimental in operation unless manually started, stopped and monitored.

To change time:
(1) Start the system 2000 software
(2)
Select Date/Time from the top menu bar
(3) Press Synchronize
(4) This only changes the time. It does not change the DST enable/disable statusRemember that the System 2000 is a Distributed System which means all data is stored on the computer and on each System 2 Door Node. This provides localized redundant security and does not rely on a PC computer for security operations. But, it does require time for any type of change to propagate through the entire system which includes all door nodes.

MORE FIXES AND INFO:
Thanks to our friends over at www.intelliadmin.com, here are two small utilities (size about 800k each) that change the registry settings and are designed to fix the current Microsoft DST problem. We tested and installed them on our corporate machines and everything seems fine with them. They are simple to use and are offered to you only "as is". And, we would like to but can't provide Tech Support for specific Microsoft issues or problems.